Private sector credit extension, SA’s trade balance, the state of manufacturing and new vehicle sales will be the main domestic economic releases this week, but the January meeting of the US Federal Reserve will likely take centre stage. Very few analysts expect the Federal Open Market Committee to raise its target interest rate at its Wednesday meeting, which will be the last one chaired by Janet Yellen before she is replaced by Jerome Powell. The Fed raised the federal funds rate by 25 basis points to a range of 1.25%-1.50% in December on faster-than-expected economic growth and strong job creation. The US unemployment rate is just 4.1% which is suggestive of full employment. This took to three the number of rate hikes by the Fed in 2017, though US consumer inflation remains below the Fed’s 2% target. There is a market-implied probability of 76.5% that rates will be raised by 25 more basis points in March and a 55% chance that the Fed will raise its rates three times in total in 2...
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